There is a link to the Ringing World BellBoard listing all performances submitted for November 11, 2018 in Northamptonshire here and Rutland here. Also available at the bottom of the Peals and Quarter Peals page.

Richard Waddy

The following message comes from Richard’s family:

Dear All,

It is with sadness we are writing to let you know that Richard Waddy passed away on Saturday 10th November, at home with his family.
His heart condition, which he had managed with so well for the last 10 years, had substantially worsened in the last 8 weeks.

We are having a Thanksgiving Memorial service to celebrate his life for friends and relatives on Friday 23rd November at 11am at Saint Lawrence's Church Long Buckby, to be followed by refreshments and light bites at Long Buckby Rugby Club. Please do make interested parties aware and should we have missed them off this list please forward on with our apologies and a warm welcome to join us.

To help with numbers please reply to confirm if you are hoping to attend the Memorial Service and / or the refreshments afterwards to richard.memorial@waddy.org,uk
Kindest

Regards, Margaret, Fiona and Adrian.

Peter Clifton is co-ordinating the ringing before and after the service.

The quarter peals and peals that Richard rang since 2005 are listed in this BellBoard listing

Ivor Dickin

Jenny Ball informs us with great sadness that Ivor Dickin, of Irchester, died last night (November 9, 2018).

Ivor's funeral will be on Tuesday, November 27, at 1pm at St Katharine's Church, Irchester.

Further details when available.

ART Conference 2019 at Worcester

Graham Nabb (07974 743766) of ART sends us this message: -"as the conference is not far away I hope that some local interest can be developed - its not all for ART members!"

ART will be holding its annual Conference over the weekend of 2/3 March at The Worcestershire County Cricket Club, Worcester. The exciting agenda includes a great line up of speakers, with keynotes by the St Martin’s Guild Ringing Master, Simon Linford, Mark Regan Master of the Cathedral Ringers, Matt Bulbeck a professional outdoor sports coach and bell ringing teacher and Ian & Louise Wilson from Warwick.

New additions to the line-up include presentations about safeguarding, insurance and risk assessments from representatives of the Church of England and Ecclesiastical Insurance. These talks will be followed by opportunities throughout the day to talk through any local issues with the experts. And of course, don’t miss the chance to tour the Cathedral’s Ringing Centre.

The ART Awards Ceremony is the final event of the Saturday when the winners of a host of awards, some group, some individual, will be announced. Come along and meet the ART team and celebrate with the award winners over a drink. You do not have to be an ART member to nominate a group or individual for an award you may find that a group or leader near you is someone you would like to put forward in which case nominate via the ART web site.

The second day of the conference weekend concentrates on encouraging young ringers and is hosted by the Central Council.

The ART Conference is ART’s leading national event and is open to anyone with an interest in ringing teaching and leadership. We would like to invite you to join us over the weekend for what will be two full and stimulating days.

Conference bookings will open in early in January via the ART website.

Derek Jones' Winter 2018-19 paper quiz was distributed to Branch Secretaries at the Guild Summer Festival for sale at £1 per sheet with the proceeds as usual going to the Guild Bell Fund. It is based on Bridges, Viaducts and Aqueducts of Britain.

Since issue, Derek has advised that question 1 has been re-evaluated, and the location is a bit obscure. The revised solution has 8 and 4 letters. Please amend your copy accordingly.

A further message from Derek Jones on October 25:

A keen subscriber to the Guild paper quiz has spotted the following:

question 13 Leics not Notts

question 31 Forth and Clyde not of

question 93 Jane not Jayne! (My B A was in Chemistry)

Summer Festival 2018

Rothwell proved to be a very good location on September 22 when the vast church enabled everyone to gather in comfort out of the rain and cold wind. Alistair Donaldson had erected his Maplestead mini-ring in the south east aisle to provide an attraction with the tinkling penetrating the building. A splendid buffet tea provided by members of the branch
was available in the north aisle and the meeting was held in the south west aisle.

The inter-branch eight-bell striking competition began at 3pm on the 2015 light eight which uses the 8th of the majestic ten as the tenor. The team leaders seamlessly assembled their bands at the bottom of the stairs at their pre-appointed time ready to ascend immediately the previous band finished ringing with the changeover executed in the ringing room. Seven teams competed with only Culworth, Peterborough and Rutland missing. We have not managed more than seven teams since 1994 - we keep trying for all ten! Last year Northampton set the precedent of arranging a prior ten-bell quarter peal with representatives of each branch. This year three branches could not find a rep., but Grandsire Caters was still successfully completed at Kettering with the Guild Master conducting.

The judge was Andrew Young from Oadby who was housed so as to hear the bells, unlike the majority who stayed comfortably inside the church, some making an occasional foray to the porch to listen! As he had another appointment, we held up our business meeting so that the results came first. Guild Master, Simon Dixon introduced Andrew, who made general comments about the high standard of striking and that he was glad that he had decided to mark hard using 0.5 fault for a blemish, 1 fault for an error and 2 for a bad change. There were few 1s and no 2s! He commented that team experience showed through with the speed of return to a regular rhythm after a trip. The results were as usual given in reverse order and accompanied by a certificate to each team leader:

Placed

Branch

Rang

Faults

7th

Guilsborough

6th

53

6th

Kettering

4th

42

5th

Daventry

5th

40

4th

Thrapston

1st

36.5

3rd

Towcester

2nd

32

2nd

Wellingborough

7th

22

1st

Northampton

3rd

20.5

Giles Willson, Northampton Branch Ringing Master was presented with the fine Harry Wooding Memorial Trophy for Northampton to display for the first time ever.

Andrew, after being thanked appropriately for his time and judgement by Simon, left us to our other business.

An all encompassing vote of thanks for the permissions and the comprehensive arrangements for the day, masterminded by Sarah Bence and Helen Churchman, was made by Alison Byrnes from Thrapston and was endorsed with much applause.

The Guild Treasurer, Chris FitzGerald, introduced himself to members, as he had been unable to attend the AGM in June when he was elected to the post in succession to Alan Marks.

Between 60 -70 members were present to agree Bell Fund grants: £1,600 to Great Oakleyfor augmenting the ring to five by the addition of two ex-buoy bells supplied through the Keltek Trust with tuning and additional framework and fittings by Matthew Higby and Company Ltd; £250 to Rushden for clapper renovation by John Taylor & Co. An enquiry from Thrapston reminded the Steward that a minor grant (of £110) had been agreed for renovation of four clappers.

It was the 32nd anniversary for the 100-Club draw, which Derek Jones has organised all that time, but wants to hand it on next June. Each anniversary is marked by three prizes instead of the monthly two and they went to 57 (Northampton Branch) £55.50, 37 (Kettering Branch) £27.75 and 24 (Guilsborough Branch) £11.

The paper quiz to raise funds for the Bell Fund was distributed to Branch Secretaries to sell. This winter Derek Jones has based the quiz on bridges, viaducts and aqueducts - £1 a sheet.

Ringing on Rothwell's ten and back 8 under the Master’s direction continued until 7.45pm after which some 17 were invited to adjourn to the Conservative Club for commendably priced drinks.

Back in June, following the CCCBR annual meeting in Lancaster, the President circulated a couple of updates – “What happens now” and a “Who’s Who” of the new workgroup leads. As promised, here is a further update, reporting on workgroup current activity and initiatives as well as future plans.

Ringers can be reassured that plenty is going on. The Executive have commenced a schedule of monthly skype briefings, with a focus not only on important items of governance, but also on the practical activity programmes of workgroups. In turn, Workgroup Leads have been in consultation with workgroup members and the wider ringing community to determine specific actions and initiatives. To avoid any potential “silos” forming, the Workgroup Leads have themselves been liaising to identify any crossover of work, and opportunities for collaboration. A joint Executive and Workgroup Lead away-day on Sunday 1stJuly provided an excellent opportunity to bring all these elements together into a cohesive framework of activity.

As the ringing community rightly expects, our focus is to provide services and support FOR RINGERS and RINGING – for Associations, for towers, and for individuals. A key aim is to preserve and celebrate the best of existing practice, while building on this through activities clearly linked to our mission and vision. To find out more go to the CCCBR website here.

Louise Nightingale, CCCBR Workgroup Lead - Communications & Marketing

Annual General Meeting 2018

It was Thrapston Branch’s turn to host the Guild AGM on Saturday, June 9. Ringstead and Islip towers were visited by a reasonable number. Each had benefitted from a grant of over £1,000 from the Guild Bell Fund two and six years ago respectively. Then the fine eight at Thrapston was available before the Guild service at 4.30pm, led by the Revd. Peter Baden. We remembered sixteen former members in prayers. A splendid tea was served by branch members in the church hall.

President, Geoff Pullin opened and welcomed over 50 members from eight branches to the AGM around 6pm. The thanks part was agreed with acclamation on the proposition of James Grennan on behalf of the Daventry Branch to thank the incumbents, ringing stewards the Revd. Peter Baden and the tea providers.

The routine stuff followed, with spelling corrections of surnames in the minutes of the Guild AGM 2017 and subsequent Guild meetings, preceding acceptance. The published 2017 accounts were adopted and the General Management Committee report on 2017 received without comment. The Treasurer, Alan Marks, who had indicated that he wished to retire, was pleased that this year all branches had submitted monies on time so that he was able to handover accurate accounts. He explained that it would take him another two weeks to complete the formalities of changing cheque signatories etc. Alan was thanked with acclamation for doing the important job over the last ten years.

Sue Jones proposed on behalf of the Finance & General Purposes Committee that the annual subscription should be raised to £7 for adults, £3.50 for students for 2019 and that the peal fee remains at 20p per rope. An amendment for £7.50 for ease of change giving was defeated after it was pointed out that the half rate was made more difficult and any extra money just sat in bank accounts. The increase was passed nem con.

An allocation of £1,000 from the Bell Fund for the administrators to deal with minor grants over the coming year was accepted.

The election of officers proceeded with the option of voting against never being exercised. Incumbent officers were returned with the exception of the retiring Treasurer. Members were made aware that in 2019, it is the intentions of the Secretary, Steward, Peal Secretary and 100-Club organiser to retire! There was some doubt through illness whether the Independent Examiner wished to continue, but he was re-elected. Ian Willgress referred to a short cv in circulation and proposed from the Daventry Branch that Chris FitzGerald (right) be elected Treasurer. This was agreed in Chris’ absence due to a prior engagement.

The Secretary brought to members’ attention the statement on Safe Ringing (Insurance, Health & Safety and Safeguarding) that had been published in the Annual Report and website. Having sorted these, we now have the GDPR to divert our attention! Questioners were assured that the Executive was listing what data was kept by the Guild and its branches. It was emphasised that for the most controversial aspect – contact details on the website - written permissions under the old-fashioned Data Protection Act are still in place.

The PRO advised that the Guild website had 46,123 hits over the year, about 1,000 less than last year. The pages with the highest hit rates were Welcome!, Towers, Latest Guild News, Events, Branch Officers, Guild Officers, Bell Maintenance.

He mentioned the Armistice 100 - Ringing Remembers campaign and Master Simon Dixon handed out posters and leaflets gathered from the recent CCCBR meeting relating to it and stressed that they were for display in public places – not hidden in towers.

Nick Elks gave a detailed report on the CCCBR meeting in Lancaster when the new organisational arrangements were agreed by a large majority. The increased squeaking of chairs indicated less than rapt attention.

The 100-Club draw (1st prize £45.20 to #79 Peterborough Branch; 2nd prize £11.30 #104 Wellingborough Branch) was swiftly performed before the only declared item of AOB.

There was a request or two for the Guild ten-bell practices to be re-introduced and willingness to try it on a 5th Saturday basis starting on September 29, seemed to meet general favour. A collection for the Bell Fund amounted to £78.72. The meeting ended at 7.20pm.

Several members made their way out into the countryside to Wadenhoe’s saddle back tower, situated in rural tranquillity alongside the River Nene with the President noting that he could walk the 39 miles home along the Nene Way, but wouldn’t. The local pub hosted some 17 until 10.30pm. GHP

Jude Coulter

Sadly Wellingborough Branch record that Jude Coulter passed away on May 23, 2018, at Northampton General Hospital, aged 58. Jude was the beloved partner of Bill, devoted mum to Thomas, Sarah and Ben.

Jude was elected a member in 2011 and was Tower Captain and contact for Ecton, a Branch Committee member and the Newsletter Correspondent.

Charlie Truman, who died on May 14, 2018 at the age of 87, was for many years one of the leading ringers in the south of Northamptonshire.

He was born in Whittlebury near Towcester on December 27, 1930 and learnt to ring at St Mary's Church, Whittlebury in 1943 when the war time ringing ban ended, being taught, with three other local youths (two sets of brothers in fact), by Albert Booth, Head Gardener at Whittlebury Lodge which has since been demolished. After national service in REME between 1949 and 1950, finishing his service as a Lance Corporal Craftsman, Group A, Class 1, he returned to the village. He married his wife for over 60 years, the late Joan, at Abthorpe Church in 1957. Their son, Paul, was born in 1961. Charlie played club cricket until the 1960's and then took up golf becoming a member of Stowe Golf Club for many years. He and Joan lived in Whittlebury until 2000 when they decided a move to somewhere with more accessible facilities might be advisable and so they settled in Towcester where they lived for the rest of their lives.

Having learnt to ring, progress was slow for a number of years until he came under the influence of William A Yates who was very active in local ringing in the early 1950's. He joined the Towcester Branch of the Peterborough Diocesan Guild under Whittlebury tower in 1958, rang his first peal, Grandsire Doubles conducted by Bill Yates at Whittlebury in 1959 and his first as conductor in 1962, Stedman Doubles at Grafton Regis.

By regular attendance at the practices at Helmdon and Wicken, which were local centres of excellence, he was able to extend his ringing to surprise minor and major, and during this period he developed an interest in spliced surprise minor. First Monday practices at Cold Higham or Pattishall initiated by Charlie and his great friend Jim Linnell, who was one of the brothers he learnt to ring with, gave him the opportunity to develop the spliced surprise minor repertoire and to call touches and peals and this culminated in a peal in 34 methods (perhaps the maximum at the time) at Pattishall in 1965 which he conducted. The augmentation of Daventry bells in 1965 to a fine ring of ten gave him the opportunity for 10 bell ringing and he also had some experience on 12 during the 1990s. His final peal total was 777 of which he conducted 76.

For many years he was tower captain at Whittlebury and from the 1990's ran the ringing at Easton Neston until he was forced to retire when his health started to deteriorate in 2010. It was fitting therefore that quarter peals in his memory were rung at both towers. Peals were also rung at Easton Neston and Bradden.

His funeral took place at Whittlebury on June 27, 2018 and he was buried in the churchyard alongside Joan, who had predeceased him by just three months, and his parents.

Nick Elks, one of our CCCBR Representatives has provided this brief report on the meeting held on May 28:

For anyone who is interested, the new Central Council rules were passed with a large majority - 137 for the motion, 8 against, 10 abstentions and seven non-votes, despite an attempt by certain longstanding members to have further 'consultation' and delay the decision until at least next September. The 15 committees now have been merged into 5 Working Groups (they have not been abolished as some people have been saying) and these workgroups are open to anyone to serve on them, not just CC reps.

Four new executives were elected to join the current four who, by default (current senior officers), are on the initial tranche of the executive. We now have eight Executive Officers, Five Workgroups, and new flexible rules which should enable the Central Council to be more responsive to current needs. Please allow a few days for the Central Council website to be updated, and I will give a fuller account of the proceedings and an analysis of what this means for the future at the PDG AGM on June 9th.

Nick Elks PDG Central Council Representative.

The CCCBR Executive have since made appointments as Workgroup Leders and their sponsors - click here.

Derek Thornton

Geoffrey Stretton reported on May 8, 2018:

I have this morning had the sad news that my old friend and ringing colleague Derek Thornton died last night in the Horton General aged 92.

His son Peter, rang early this morning to say he had passed away at around 11.00 last night in Juniper Ward where he had been for the past couple of months recovering from emphysema.

Derek was taught to ring by Fred Hutt and joined the Guild at Byfield in 1952. He transferred to Woodford Halse when the bells were restored and he became tower captain in 1977. Derek was the GMC Rep for the Culworth Branch from 1987 -1996 and Vice Chairman from 1998 -2001. He was elected a Life Hornorary Member of the Guild for outstanding service in 2012.

Geoff further reported that the funeral was held on Friday, May 25.There was a service at St. Mary's Church, Woodford Halse at 10.30am followed by a cremationat Banbury Crematoriumat 12 noon.

Spring Festivalon April 28, 2018 hosted by Daventry Branch

For the title of a Spring Festival the weather did not seem to agree, even April showers could not describe the dull wet and cold day especially as we had recently been so spoiled with glorious days only a week before, however as I approached the first church for the afternoon open ringing there was something special about the first Guild meeting for 2018.

St Luke's Church, Kislingbury held its doors open for all to try the 5 bells (Tenor 12cwt) with the ground floor ring. 18 ringers arrived and methods rung varied between call changes to Grandsire. Some members of the Towcester band arrived to warm up before the competition and agreed to ring the bells down which can be said was a blessing as by then many ringers had made the journey over to Flore to secure parking.

The rain continued as we left behind a lovely church to drive the short journey over to Flore and find All Saints Church, host of the afternoon's competition. Sandwiches in hand and meeting up with many others carrying a variety of plates containing cakes and food items, the walk was made from the car park over to the church. On walking in I was faced with a large and excitable number of ringers, a wonderful gathering and thankfully a warm church. With the modern idea of utilising open spaces within churches Daventry Branch we able to lay out a very pleasing and scrumptious buffet to keep everyone fed and watered throughout the afternoon.

With what looked like a hand-written and swiftly composed ringing list for teams the competition duly began after the rules and announcements were made from Guild Master Simon Dixon. There were ten teams to ring with two teams pulling out at the last minute. An extremely good turn out and up on numbers from the last two years so an improvement on participation and engagement which can only be seen as positive for all ringing.

Teams, without notice by me and many others despite trying my best to watch out, just seemed to disappear up in to the staircase and on to the tower. It was like they all just disappeared and re-appeared - like magic and the only way to notice was names being ticked off the list with of course the distant sound of bells. Sadly due to the weather it was not really the afternoon to sit outside and listen as had been done on previous years but somehow as the afternoon went on the sound of bells became louder and clearer from inside the church.

Northampton Gold went first and opened the competition followed by Northampton Green - I am yet to establish how the names came about of Gold and Green [hint from Rugby fans - the Black team couldn't make it] but then we saw a team not entered in recent years from Byfield - again a nice sight to see towers bringing forward teams to compete. Heyford Fridays followed - another new name but I could work this one out at least! Pattishall A and B teams followed but split up by Yelvertoft to whom I must say often appear to be the jolliest of all bands I come across. Rushden and Orlingbury brought up the rear with a sigh of relief as I saw Orlingbury return to the church after visiting a local hostelry for Dutch courage.

Teas still being consumed and a sale of old ringing books, guild reports, and of course the tea towels, the afternoon flew by. The ringing now completed Simon Dixon offered the tower for a few to grab prior to the meeting and results. I have to say I was first up there as having never rung before at Flore. I was accompanied by 12 others including two people I had not seen during the afternoon (later to realise they were the judges!)

With many taking their seats the Guild business meeting was opened by President Geoff Pullin. It was mentioned that two teams entering the competition had brought their Rector with them, an interesting thought here. Counting 72 people present it was a huge turn out, so again well done to Daventry Branch.

A vote of thanks was given by Giles Wilson from Northampton Branch with special thanks offered to Alison Buck and her team of helpers from Daventry Branch and to Brian Foley for arranging the evening use of St Peter and St Paul, Weedon Bec.

Geoff Pullin, continuing to catch up with presenting certificates, presented Hilary Aslett with her Certificate for Life Honorary Membership of the Guild, this one nearly 12 years late. A lovely round of applause was given for Hilary.

Two bell fund grants were agreed by members and the 100 club was drawn with Derek Jones announcing there are now 121 paid up members. Sue Jones announced the next Guild meeting will be the AGM hosted by Thrapston branch, Saturday, June 9, 2018 with the Summer Festival being held at Rothwell on a revised date of September 22, 2018.

At this point Simon Dixon suggested a short intermission to allow time for the judges to complete their results - it was noted that the intermission did not include the offer of ice creams!

Tension built with the wait and murmurs became louder until the judges arrived and were duly introduced by Simon. Emma Cundiff and Stuart Cox from Tunstall in Kent were welcomed by all and with eagerness to hear the results we all quietened to listen.

Stuart gave thanks for the use of a car, stated it was nice to be back in the area and that it was difficult to judge such a long competition - over 2 hours with different methods and in a cold car. He followed this by stating,"there are no points for complexity of methods it is about striking well". He further stated "it was good to see so many teams, and as you can choose your own methods, play to your strengths". Neither judge had rung here before so straight after the ringing they did admit to going up to the tower and trying the bells, finding with surprise, "how pleasant the ring was".

Emma kindly announced the results with a brief run down for each team. I will list in the order they rang and the points/places awarded as follows:

Team

Rang

Comments

Points

Place

1

Northampton Gold

Call Changes

Good at Lead

41

7th

2

Northampton Green

Plain Bob Minor

Good Rhythm

22

2nd

3

Byfield

Plain Hunt

Kept Going

100

10th

4

Heyford Fridays

Call Changes

Took care

35

5th

5

Pattishall B

Grandsire

Bits really quite nice

47

8th

6

Yelvertoft

Grandsire

Pleasant Piece

52

9th

7

Pattishall A

Call Changes

Little uneven

40

6th

8

Towcester

Cambridge S M

Confident

13

1st

9

Rushden

Grandsire

Steady piece

28

3rd

10

Orlingbury

Call Changes

Well struck

30

4th

With a variety of methods, clear comments and the scores, the winning team was announced to be Towcester. Team Captain Richard Allton, bearing a wide and proud smile, took the Weaver Shield. Congratulations Richard and to your team - well done!

Thanks offered to the judges and gifts presented, well sort of as Simon didn't actually take the gifts out of the carrier bag, but such fun to watch and Simon is certainly comfortable and enjoying his role as Master.

Well it was a good day, a happy result for Towcester and with much noise and shuffling the church emptied with many ringers off to Weedon for the evening Open Ring. I couldn't go so sadly unable to report further but my final look back over the beautiful church at Flore I saw Ian Willgress duly using Henry the Hoover on the carpets and returning the building back to a church.

Well done everyone -it was so good to see everyone have a brilliant day, a lovely atmosphere and for me, well just being back and ringing again after such a long illness and time away. I noticed the increase in numbers attending, the new teams trying competitions and hopefully a sign of further participation from all ringers to Guild events.

Here's to the Summer Festival and of course the AGM - please do attend. Remember we will sadly see our treasurer Alan Marks retire and also remember - it is your Guild, your hobby of ringing and without attending Guild events then we cannot improve, change or create the ringing for the future.

Odette Dawkins

A New Kind of Ringing Organisation

You may already have received a message directly by email from Phillip Barnes, on behalf of the Officers and Shadow Executive of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (CCCBR).

The link for signing up as a subscribing member of the new CCCBR (no subs) is avilable here.

Guidelines for Safe Ringing

The consolidated guidelines below were approved for publication by the General Management Committee on March 10, 2018. A copy for printing is available here.

INSURANCE

Under Civil Law, individuals have a duty of care while performing any activities that could foreseeably harm others. If anything goes wrong, it is possible for a claim to be made for damages under Civil Law. For such a claim to succeed, the claimant must show that the defendant breached the duty of reasonable care.

The Guild holds public and product liability insurance with Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc, policy no. 07/CBP/9100712, which indemnifies officers and members for any legal liability to pay damages up to £2,000,000 (raised to £5,000,000 from 20/9/18) for any accidental injury to any person and accidental damage to any material property. Insurers will not refuse to pay a claim if there was a breach of instructions.

The Guild does not hold any personal accident insurance.

HEALTH & SAFETY

The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 applies only to organisations which are employers and to people who are employed. The Guild is not an employer and has no employees. Requirements under the act, such as the production of risk assessments, are thus not mandatory. However the Guild recognises that it is good practice to demonstrate a duty of care by providing advice and training for its activities.

Samples of risk assessments for ringing situations are provided on the Guild’s website.

It is recommended that first aid kits be available whenever ringing or bell maintenance is being undertaken.

It is recommended that the best postcodeand road name is displayed for use in the event of a 999 call out to guide emergency services to the appropriate door.

SAFEGUARDING OF CHILDREN & VULNERABLE ADULTS

The Diocese of Peterborough is implementing ‘The Church of England Practice Guidance: Safer Recruitment’ throughout the diocese. Each Parochial Church Council has to implement these procedures, including appointing tower captains and other volunteers. All towers with bells in the diocese, including those under the protection of the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT), will be covered. Local bands should familiarise themselves with the host tower requirements.

Through the Diocese, the PCC is responsible for obtaining free, DBS (Disclosing and Barring Service) check certificates for those carrying out face to face training of juniors and transporting juniors as a formal arrangement. A certificate can be used by ringers throughout the Diocese of Peterborough, not only in the initiating parish.

Everyone holding a DBS certificate should undertake safeguarding training and renew every three years. Procedures for this are being set up by the Diocese.

The Guild recommends these minimum guidelines at any ringing event:

Children should be accompanied to Guild and Branch ringing events by DBS checked members of their local team or their parents.

An attendance list is kept at ringing events.

Two members are present, at least one will have a current DBS.

Touching should only be that appropriate for teaching and in an emergency.

If any ringers have concerns regarding safeguarding of children or vulnerable adults, they need to report it to the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser, who will deal appropriately with any reports concerning ringers and will communicate with any parishes on a need to know basis.

If there is concern of immediate danger to a child or vulnerable adult, telephone 999 (Police)

A vulnerable adult is a person aged 18 or over, who is or may be in need of community care services by reason of disability, age or illness; and who is or may be unable to take care or unable to protect him or herself against significant harm or exploitation.

Just to let you know that Dad died last night. He had been failing for some time so not entirely unexpected.

I am struggling to think who should be informed - I know there are lots of people around who ask after him so please could you let others know? Please would someone ring Ray?

We are having a very small funeral in Bromyard and will have a memorial service at Long Buckby sometime in (probably) May/June.

bw

Shirley

Shirley writes on 30/3/18:

The cremation service is next Wednesday April 4 at 3pm at Hereford Crematorium. Whilst we are not expecting anyone to attend (although it is open to anyone), I thought it might be good if a quarter or two could possibly be arranged locally for Wednesday sometime, to coincide with the date at least, if not the time. I noted that some other quarters were dedicated to his memory, which was a lovely thought.

Click here and here for quarter peals and peals rung in memory of Stan.

Stan was born on September 29, 1922. He was elected as a Life Honorary Member of the Guild on June 11, 1983 for giving outstanding service.

Shirley writes on 23/4/18:

Dad's Memorial Service will be on Wednesday July 11th at 12 noon at St Lawrence's Church, Long Buckby.

A peal was rung on July 3 at Long Buckby and there was a quarter peal arranged by Shirley before the service and general ringing afterwards, with the band arranged by Peter Clifton, the tower captain.

The Guild Executive agreed with the Master that the March 10-bell practice will be cancelled as it coincides with the GMC meeting, which occupies a majority of those who usually attend the practice.

Reviewing the attendance and progress, the Master thinks it best to discontinue the practices. Although a practice on June 9, was mooted for members to attend on their way to the AGM hosted by the Thrapston Branch, this will not now take place. Instead it is proposed to have 10-bell quarter peals arranged to advance specific ringers and / or methods, with any requests going to the Master.

At the Guild AGM on June 9, 2018, a request to re-start the practices was discussed and it was agreed to hold a practice on the 5th Saturdays, starting on September 29, 2018. It was held at St Giles Northampton 10.30am to 12.30pm with 154 attending, run by Richard Allton with Rounds and Call Changes, Plain Hunt 10, Grandsire Caters twice, Stedman Caters twice, a course and a half of Yorkshire S Royal.

The next practice will be on Saturday, December 29, 10.30am to 12.30pm scheduled for Higham Ferrers. All wecome!

Publicity for Bellringing

The CCCBR Public Relations Committee draws our attention to these new leaflets and flyers and encourages the use of these resources in our area:

'Engaging with the Public' Leaflet

Ideas and tips to successfully engage the public with your ringing and associated activities: Easy to use 'mix-and-match' format to help you to put together the ideas which will work for you locally. Available here. Produced by The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (CCCBR) Public Relations Committee.

Bell Ringing Flyer
Flyers for you to give to members of the public with a section for your tower or association/guild/society details (contacts, ringing times, website, Facebook, etc). Available here in pdf format with provision for you to enter your tower’s information.Originally produced for Peak 2015 International Scout & Guide Camp and the Derby Diocesan Association, now approved by CCCBR.

His wife, Frances, sadly reports that "Howard died yesterday (December 17) morning, very peacefully, with our daughters and myself with him". He was 79 years old. The funeral took place at St Peter's Church, Brackley on Tuesday, January 9, 2018 at 11am. Ringing was organised by Phil Curtis.

Howard joined the Guild as a member for Brackley in 2010 and was branch independent examiner 2011-3. They moved into the area from Sunningdale. Howard had rung several peals, including two for the Zipper Society and quarter peals at the Curfew Tower, Windsor. Click here for a quarter peal rung for Howard. GHP

Harold Thompson

Harold had been suffering with ill health for a number of months but on November 29 he was taken to A&E, Northampton and died in the early hours of December 2. His funeral took place on Friday, December 22 at 1.30pm at Mid Warwickshire Crematorium, Oakley Wood.

Harold was born on October 30, 1934 and moved to Braunston, Northants from Southall in 1969. He learned to ring and was elected a Guild member for Welton in 1998. When Richard Hartley was elected Daventry Branch Steward in 2005, Harold assisted Richard in restoring the four branch unringables by working regular weekly sessions over a few years including using his carpentry skills to repair and rebuild bell wheels. Before and after that, Harold had assisted with the restoration of several rings across the Diocese, including locally Everdon, Long Buckby, Charwelton.

He was tower captain at Welton from 2007 and was sacristan until he gave up last month when he decided that he was not stable enough to safely carry out the duties.

Harold’s ringing repertoire was not wide and his style unique, but he was a keen supporter of the Daventry Branch and would often be early at meetings ready to raise the bells. Welton hosted the November 2017 branch meeting. In recent years, he has supported Tuesday morning ringing sessions at Hellidon and checked that the altar was dressed in the appropriate colour! He last rang in July and his last visit, for coffee, was on November 28.

Unfortunately we were unable to field a team for the 2018 event at St Albans. The results were:

Place

Team

Rang

Peal
Speed

Marks

Winner

Hertford County Association

6th

3hr 12

41 faults

Second

Ely Diocesan Association

3rd

3hr 32

61 faults

Third

Bedfordshire Association

5th

3hr 18

65 faults

Fourth

Suffolk Guild

2nd

3hr 06

114 faults

Fifth

Essex Association

1st

3hr 11

115 faults

Sixth

Cambridge University Guild

4th

3hr 19

119 faults

Seventh

Lincoln Diocesan Guild

7th

did not finish

The Competition Steward's Report is available here. In 2019 the competition is hosted by the Suffolk Guild, probably at the Norman Tower, Bury St Edmunds on June 15.

ART Workshops

At the ART Conference in March, ART announced the development of training workshops in number of subjects.

There are many good training sessions that take place throughout the country, but so often the trainer has to develop their own materials causing a huge duplication of effort. ART is keen to have a repository of good materials and have ‘off the shelf workshops’ available for use to encourage more workshop training in new areas using the best materials and teaching. This may help avoid so many people reinventing the wheel. Many of these will have to be capable of variation to allow for audiences of different experience levels.

Each workshop uses a combination of presentations and practical work. Currently handouts are handled by email but deletes on the workshops will get access to SmART Ringer in due course to view all handouts and other relevant information.

All workshops will be advertised via the ART web site and already a number of successful pilot workshops have taken place.

·Conducting– this focusses on Bob Minor but includes coursing order, transposition etc.

·Mentor development - aims to increase the awareness of the mentoring process

·Bell Maintenance – A full day’s workshop to understand what basic maintenance a bell installation needs.

·Simulator Awareness - designed for people with limited or no knowledge of simulators it explains the various sensor systems and software available .

·Listen & Strike - helps develop listening skills and rhythm, leading to a reduced reliance on looking and better striking.

·Tower Leadership - covers stakeholder management, leading the team, good practice and performance. Theory sessions augmented with lots of discussion. (Produced in conjunction with CCCBR).

Other workshops are being developed and we would welcome good additional materials for existing workshops and ideas and assistance with new ones.

These workshops will be run on a regional/local basis and we need to hear not just from people who would like to arrange a course but those who are prepared to run them. Workshop leaders clearly need to have knowledge of their subject as well as good communication skills and the ability to present well using Power Point. (Mileage expenses are paid to appointed workshop leaders).

So if you need workshop training or could run one – get in touch!

Graham Nabb ART

Recruitment Power Point Presentations

You may know that the Central Council Public Relations Committee, with help from other ringers, has been working for some time on a set of PowerPoint presentations that ringers can use to explain our wonderful hobby to others. This is something that we have often been asked for so we believe that many ringers will find these really useful. The first set is now available on the Council’s website here

You will see that they include speaking notes and cover

· A general overview of ringing

· A presentation to those particularly interested in the science & mathematics or it all

· A presentation for those interested particularly in history

· A ‘recruitment’ presentation

Still to come in the future are:

· A template for bell restoration funding applications

· A recruitment presentation for youth

· A ‘tower leaflet’ with generic content as well as areas for specifics for your tower – an aid to help create your own leaflet if you don’t have one.

And did you know that you can now subscribe to the Council’s website so that you get automatic notification of new items? Sign up here

Kate Flavell Public Relations Officer Central Council of Church Bell Ringers

ART WORKS Newsletters

The latest ART WORKS magazines from the Association of Ringing Teachers can be foundhere. ART